SkyMall LLC, the company behind those absurd in-flight shopping catalogs that are often stuffed in the seat-back pocket on many airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Phoenix on Thursday. SkyMall is owned by Xhibit Corp., whose CEO Scott Wiley said that the growth of electronic devices and in-flight Wi-Fi threatened the profitability of the marketing rag.

Further Reading

Most people know SkyMall as a catalog full of wacky or ridiculous products to flip through while you're trapped in a tube hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour. Some of the products made dubious claims (like this hiccup stick), others were fantastic and borderline nuts/genius (like the SkySaver). Other things were really only for the tackiest person you know (like this NFL high heel wine holder). Some of the electronic stuff was actually kind of neat, though (in recent years I noted an uptick in robots and drones in SkyMall's illustrious pages).

As a result, airlines have been less willing to buy SkyMall magazines for their seatback pockets. In addition, SkyMall cited competition from Amazon and eBay as reasons for its declining revenue and wrote that it had to offer margin-eating deals to compete. “Demand for products offered in SkyMall’s catalog is generally highly sensitive to price. SkyMall often offered discounted prices as a means of attracting customers and encouraging repeat purchases. Such offers and discounts reduced SkyMall’s margins and operating income.”

In early 2014, SkyMall laid off 47 of its 150 employees and tried to rebrand itself as a direct retailer through its website, but the plan never got off the ground. Now, Xhibit says its creditors have about $12 million in claims against SkyMall and its sister companies.

In the bankruptcy filing, Wiley said that SkyMall, which was founded in 1989, was the most profitable arm of Xhibit Corp. Still, while SkyMall generated revenue of approximately $33.7 million in 2013, the company only raked in $15.8 million for the first nine months of 2014.

The company asked the court for a court-supervised sale of its assets and noted that “SkyMall’s assets are likely to be substantially more valuable if they can be marketed and sold as a going concern,” so it seems there is the potential for SkyMall to continue under another owner. Xhibit said it hoped to auction off its assets by March 24 and close on its sales in April.